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Staff

Lynn M. Paltrow, JD, Executive Director, founded National Advocates for Pregnant Women in 2001. Ms. Paltrow is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law. She has worked on numerous cases challenging restrictions on the right to choose abortion as well cases opposing the prosecution and punishment of pregnant women seeking to continue their pregnancies to term. Ms. Paltrow has served as a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, as Director of Special Litigation at the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, and as Vice President for Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood of New York City. Ms. Paltrow is the recipient of the Justice Gerald Le Dain Award for Achievement in the Field of Law and the National Women’s Health Network’s Barbara Seaman Award for Activism in Women's Health. She is a frequent guest lecturer and writer for popular press, law reviews, and peer-reviewed journals. She is a Gemini and mother of twins.

Nancy Rosenbloom, JD, Director of Legal Advocacy, has been a lawyer fighting for equal justice for more than 25 years. She has represented clients in civil rights, reproductive rights, family law, education law and criminal defense matters, through individual case advocacy, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and training. Ms. Rosenbloom graduated from Brown University and Columbia University School of Law. After a federal court clerkship with the Hon. U.W. Clemon in Alabama, she served as a senior staff attorney and Director of Special Litigation at The Legal Aid Society in New York City, Director of Judicial Strategy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Project Director at the City Bar Justice Center.

Emily Gertz, MPH, Deputy Director, has more than a decade of experience implementing programs and overseeing grants and other special projects in the areas of family planning, HIV/AIDS, criminal justice and substance use. She studied Public Health at the University of North Carolina and earned her undergraduate degree in Women's Health at the University of Michigan. Emily was introduced to NAPW while attending a lecture in 2011. She was inspired by NAPW's work at that time and is thrilled to able to apply her skills to help advance the organization's mission.

Odell Mays II, Consulting Fiscal Manager and Acting CFO, is a nonprofit management and business professional with over 25 years of experience in financial management and administration, strategic and program planning, and marketing communications. Odell brings with him significant depth in coalition building, advocacy and program development and planning. He has augmented his professional experiences with extensive community service work, serving as a director on several national and local boards including the National Minority AIDS Council, the Black AIDS Institute (Los Angeles, California), and as Treasurer of The New York City Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Community Services Center. He also served most recently as Chairperson of the board for the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). Odell has a B.A. from Stanford University and an MBA in finance and taxation from New York University's Stern Graduate School of Business.

Shawn Steiner, Media and Communications Manager, has over 15 years of experience in marketing and communications for nonprofit and for-profit organizations. She made the transition to nonprofit as the Marketing & Communications Director at The Trevor Project. Shawn received a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing from Baruch College. After college she worked in the entertainment, fashion, and celebrity product placement industries before aligning her personal passion and career to develop communications strategies forwarding social justice movements.

Amber Khan, JD, Senior Staff Attorney, has represented clients in a variety of civil matters including family law and immigration law. She has also worked in the field of international human rights. Ms. Khan received her undergraduate degree from American University, her Master's degree from Columbia University, and graduated from George Washington University Law School. Most recently, she served as a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Family Representation in New York City.

Aarin Michele Williams, JD, Senior Staff Attorney is an experienced lawyer barred in New York and New Jersey. She most recently worked in the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender. In this position, she was a zealous trial attorney for citizens charged with serious crimes. She was identified as a lead attorney within the organization and was a sought-after trial strategy trainer for lawyers. Aarin is also an Adjunct Humanities Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology where her popular courses explore a variety of socio-political topics, earning her a nomination for the 2017 University Excellence in Teaching Award. She is originally from Georgia and is a proud graduate of Howard University and Rutgers School of Law-Newark where she was a member of the Rutgers Law Review. She clerked in the New Jersey Superior Court and interned for leading civil rights organizations. Aarin passionately advocates for disempowered populations and believes that her community is owed and deserving of the benefits and fruits of her education.

Indra Wood Lusero, JD, Staff Attorney, is a reproductive justice attorney and entrepreneur who founded Elephant Circle and the Birth Rights Bar Association to advocate for policy change that supports families and physiologic well-being. Indra’s publications include “Challenging Hospital VBAC Bans Through Tort Liability” and “Making the Midwife Impossible: How the Structure of Maternity Care Harms the Practice of Home Birth Midwifery.” As a genderqueer Latinx parent Indra is committed to creating a world where all worlds fit.

Caitlin Dekker, Research and Program Associate, is trained as a full-spectrum doula and is a graduate of Oberlin College, where she studied Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies and Psychology. At Oberlin, she worked as a peer advocate and educator with the Oberlin Sexual Information Center, a student-run organization that provides education and confidential peer support services on issues related to reproductive and sexual health and justice. Caitlin has also interned with the Berkeley Media Studies Group, a project of the Public Health Institute, where she wrote and edited content addressing connections between health equity, policy and the media.

Victoria St. Clair, Research and Program Associate, is a graduate of CUNY Brooklyn College where she studied Sociology, Health and Nutrition, and Public Health. She became very involved on campus to bridge the gap between available resources and students' access to them. She acted as a peer mentor and a tutor at the college. As a result of her passion to create an equal and accessible learning environment for her peers, as well as her scholarly achievements, she was selected to be featured in various publications on the college's website, newspaper, and social media pages. She has assisted various administrative departments in higher education to create a process that provides the most efficient services to students.

Board Biographies

Nancy R. Aries, PhD

Nancy R. Aries is a Professor and Executive Director of Academic Programs at the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College. She also holds an appointment in the Department of Community Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Her work has been published in the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, and Health Care Management Review. She is the recipient of a 2008-09 American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship.

Khiara Bridges, JD, PhD

Khiara M. Bridges has a dual appointment as a Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Boston University. She has written many articles concerning race, class, reproductive rights, and the intersection of the three. Her scholarship has appeared in the Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the California Law Review, the Boston University Law Review, the Fordham Law Review, the Washington Law Review, and the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, among others. She is also the author of Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization (2011), published by the University of California Press. She also sits on the Academic Advisory Council for Law Students for Reproductive Justice, and she is a co-editor of a reproductive justice book series that is published under the imprint of the University of California Press.

Sarah Burns, JD

Sarah Burns is a Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law. She supervises the Reproductive Justice Clinic, which represents clients throughout the United States in litigation and policy projects centering on reproductive decision making. Burns is Executive Director of Washington Square Legal Services, the nonprofit entity under which most NYU Clinical Law Programs practice law. Burns also co-founded and oversees the Mediation Clinic and the Litigation, Organizing & Systemic Change Clinic, conducted in partnership with Make the Road NY and Center for Popular Democracy. Burns combines law with learning in social science to develop effective solutions for problems that institutions and communities face. Burns, who has been on the NYU faculty since 1990, specializes in experiential learning pedagogy, developing simulation and clinical courses in litigation, negotiation, mediation, policy advocacy, and systemic change. Burns began her law practice as a litigating attorney with the Washington, DC., commercial law firm Covington & Burling, representing industry associations in federal regulatory matters that Burns cites as “a key introduction to interest-based and advocacy legal practice so central to all negotiation and coalition work—whether in for-profit or not-for-profit/NGO sectors.” Burns later moved into public interest civil rights practice, undertaking litigation, legislative, and policy advocacy work. She has worked nationwide on cases in federal and state courts, and has advised legislative and regulatory initiatives. Burns graduated in 1979 from Yale Law School, where she edited the Yale Law Journal, and holds master’s degrees from Stanford University in sociology and the University of Oklahoma in human relations.

Carolyn J. (Cali) Cole

Carolyn J. (Cali) Cole, is Chairman and Founder of The Cole Group, a consultant to family offices and non-profit organizations. A trusted advisor to corporations, financial institutions, endowments, foundations, and individuals for over three decades, Ms. Cole has an extensive record of success in many areas of financial services and investment management. She has held senior executive positions at Citigroup, RBC Dain, and UBS. She is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the CFA Institute, the Economic Club of New York, and the YWCA Academy of Women Leaders. Her current non-profit board positions include the UFT Charter Schools, Girls Inc. of New York City, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association. She attended Vassar College and the Leonard N. Stern School of Business Administration, New York University, and has lectured at the Harvard Business School, the Sloan School of Business at MIT, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Rochester Simon School of Business.

Dr. Imseis is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist practicing in Charlotte, North Carolina. His career has been dedicated to caring for and advocating for pregnant women. He is very involved in the medical education of Obstetrician/Gynecologists across the United States for which he has won many teaching awards. He currently serves on the Women’s Executive Board and the Ethics Committee at his hospital and has served as the Medical Director of the Mountain Area Perinatal Substance Abuse Program and the Mountain Area Health Education Teen Pregnancy Clinic. Dr. Imseis has published research articles in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and in Obstetrics and Gynecology and currently reviews manuscripts for publication in both the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Carol Mason, PhD

Carol Mason is an interdisciplinary scholar whose expertise includes the rise of the right and reproductive politics. She is the author of Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-life Politics (Cornell, 2002) and Soul On Appalachian Ice: Turning Right in the Mountain State (Cornell). Dr. Mason is the recipient of fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe/Harvard. Dr. Mason’s work has appeared in publications such as Cultural Studies, NWSA Journal, American Studies Journal, Hypatia, and various edited collections. She is a professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and American Studies at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences.

Jennifer Morgan, PhD

Jennifer Morgan is a New York University Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, History and Director of Graduate Studies, SCA. She received her PhD in 1996 from Duke University. Her areas of research interests include early African American history, comparative slavery, histories of racial ideology, women and Gender. Her other affiliations include, American Historical Association, Berkshire Conference of Women's Historians, McNeil Center for Early American Studies. NAPW was introduced to Professor Morgan by her father, John Morgan a drug policy reformer and leader in research and writing regarding the effects of criminalized drugs.

Robert G. Newman, MD, MPH

Until August 2018, Dr. Newman was a long-time and beloved board member. National Advocates for Pregnant Women mourns the passing of Dr. Robert "Bob" Newman, a humanitarian and a fierce champion of the rights and dignity of people who use or are dependent on drugs. Please see these articles about Dr. Newman in HuffPost and the New York Times.

Dr. Newman was President Emeritus of Continuum Health Partners, Inc., a $2.2 billion hospital network controlling three major academic medical centers. He was CEO of the Beth Israel Health Care System for 20 years prior to the creation of Continuum in 1997; he retired from Continuum in 2001. From 2001 until June of 2013 Dr. Newman served as Director of the Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute of Beth Israel Medical Center. For over 40 years Dr. Newman played a major role in planning and directing some of the largest addiction treatment programs in the world - including the New York City Methadone Maintenance and Ambulatory Detoxification Programs, which in the 1970s served 33,000 patients annually. He was also a strong addiction treatment advocate in Europe, Australia and Asia. Throughout his career he championed the right of drug-dependent persons to treatment access and choice of provider, and the right to be cared for under the same conditions as apply to the management of all other chronic medical conditions.

Lynn M. Paltrow, JD

Ms. Paltrow is the Founder and Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW). She is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law. She has worked on numerous cases challenging restrictions on the right to choose abortion as well cases opposing the prosecution and punishment of pregnant women seeking to continue their pregnancies to term. Ms. Paltrow has served as a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, as Director of Special Litigation at the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, and as Vice President for Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood of New York City. Ms. Paltrow is the recipient of the Justice Gerald Le Dain Award for Achievement in the Field of Law and the National Women’s Health Network’s Barbara Seaman Award for Activism in Women's Health. She is a frequent guest lecturer and writer for popular press, law reviews, and peer-reviewed journals. She is a Gemini and mother of twins.